The Wisdom of Theodore Roosevelt

Quoted in Edmund Morris’ Theodore Rex, consider Roosevelt’s thoughts on the role of the presidency given in response to a report who suggested he work to nationalize the American rail system:

Here is the thing you must bear in mind. I do not represent public opinion. I represent the public. There is a wide difference between the two, between the real interests of the public and the public’s opinion of these interests. I must represent not the excited opinion of the West but the real interests of the whole people.